Jumping For Joy In Pink Bunny Slippers
by KMchase
Summary: Some say opposites attract. Well, Lily and James are opposites, but even as Head Boy and Girl they're not attracting. Instead, James is showing off, Lily has multi-colored hair, and Sirius is singing the praises of... Jello? It's giong to be a long year.
1. Flight of the Albatross

Disclaimer: No, as much as I wish I did, I do not own Harry Potter. Anything you recognize from the books belongs to JKR, and anything stupid probably belongs to me.

Now that that's over... Please R&R.

In this chapter I'm setting the scene for the story. It's not the most interesting thing in the world, but it's gotta happen. The chapter's fairly short, but I'm in the process of editing longer ones so keep your eyes out!

*******

... The train rattled along towards King's Cross, and most of the compartments were filled up, except one. James Potter and his three best friends walked toward it and stuck their heads in.

     "Hello, girls, mind if we join you? This is they only compartment left."

     One of the girls inside nodded her head, and the boys walked in and sat down. James surveyed the now full compartment, and wondered what the coming summer would have in store for him. He was going home after his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. During those past six years, he and his friends had given many teachers stress headaches, and pranked more Slytherins than they could count. This was the trademark of their little group. They called themselves the Marauders, and were known throughout the school as most likely to break the record number of detentions. They were just three detentions shy of doing so, even though one of the Marauders, Remus Lupin, was a prefect.

Remus was, in fact, sitting to James' left now. He was sandy haired, and had stormy blue eyes. On Remus' left sat Peter Pettigrew. Peter was the quietest and least outspoken of the group. He was more a follower than a leader, but that was the way it had always been and he was a Marauder nonetheless.

To James's other side was his best friend, Sirius Black. He and Sirius had known each other for what felt like forever. Being the chief planners of all the pranking the Marauders did, they were responsible for over three quarters of the detentions accumulated by the group. Sirius was commentator for the school Quidditch matches. He had a good, if sometimes perverted, sense of humor, and was widely liked within the student population.   

Looking across from him, James saw the real reason he had wanted to sit in this compartment. Her name was Lily Evans, and she was a fellow Gryffindor. She had long red hair, and emerald green eyes. She wasn't strikingly beautiful, just a bit above average. Besides, it was something else besides her physical features that made her different to James. Ever since first year, they had sort of been enemies. The original enmity between them had arisen after a certain experience which ended in Lily's hair being turned Slytherin colors. It hadn't exactly been an accident, and Lily had gotten her revenge. This resulted in mutual dislike, until James had fallen for her in fourth year. He had been dropping hints about it since then. Lily just thought he was showing off. Although she tried, it was hard for her to avoid him. They were both in Gryffindor prefects, and had several classes together. She tolerated him at times when hating him got tiring, but that was as far as it went. She was not without further reason for this dislike either. In addition to the hair incident, she thought James was way too big headed. He loved to show off for her and play the hero in every situation. Everyone just liked him for his jet black, unruly hair, chocolate brown eyes, and the fact that he played Seeker in Quidditch. Lily being a fellow Quidditch player herself (a Chaser), this did not impress her.

Presently, she was trying to ignore the way James kept glancing at her, by talking to her friends, Ellie Grayer and Rae Simmons, who was a childhood friend of Remus'.

Their conversation was interrupted by a platinum blonde Ravenclaw prefect, who poked her head into the compartment, letting everyone know that they would be arriving at Kings Cross in a half-hour or so. She turned her back and tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"Nice legs on that one," Sirius said, staring after her. Ellie coughed something that sounded like a cross between "ditz" and a slightly more insulting comment. Sirius gave her a scandalized look. Remus, the self-proclaimed peacekeeper, saw a fight coming on, and quickly changed the subject.

"Did you get those invitations I sent you?" he asked to the general public.

"Yes," everyone said together. This caused quite an uproar. The invites were to Remus' brother Thien's wedding. Apparently, the boys had not told the girls that they had been invited, and vice versa. Of course, Rae was overjoyed to know that she'd be seeing Thien again, because he was like an older brother to her. Peter asked why she was so excited, and she began to explain the whole "family relationship" to him, quite loudly. Sirius began asking whether or not there would be any cute girls there. Ellie was busy telling him off, leaving Lily to talk to either Remus or James. She chose Remus. 

"Can you teach me that charm that turns any food into chocolate? I could really use it."

"Sure. It's really not that hard, you just have to get the wand movement right..." 

"Would all prefects please report to the prefects compartment immediately," came a magically magnified voice. Lily, James, and Remus all stood up. They were the prefects for their year, much to Lily's dismay. They were one of only two houses that had three prefects. The other was the seventh year Ravenclaws. She had wondered how in the world James had become a prefect. Yes, his grades were all right, but the more likely reason was that the teachers hoped it would help turn him responsible.

"See you when we get there then?" Rae said.

"Meet you at the barrier?" Lily asked.

"Sure," Rae answered, as Lily, Remus and James left the compartment. She walked slightly ahead of them on the way there. Suddenly, another compartment door opened, and out stepped Severus Snape. Now, Lily found herself in between the two people she least wanted to be around. Snape looked at her with his signature sneer.

"Going somewhere?" he asked.

"We were going to the prefects compartment, Snivellus, and you're in the way. We'd especially appreciate it if you'd vacate the area so we can get through."

Snape didn't say anything for a moment. Remus opened his mouth to say something, but James beat him to it.

"Here let me put it in terms you can understand. Move your arse!"

He took Lily by the arm and pushed past Snape, dragging her with him. As soon as Snape was behind them, she shook him off.

"Hey, I saved you from a sticky situation. You should be thanking me," he protested, tilting his head slightly and running a hand through his hair.

"Well, we can add that to the list of things you're good at then: showing off, being a prick who needs a serious head deflation, and coming up with stupid comebacks," she said sarcastically, as she pushed open the door to the prefect compartment.

* * *

     "AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!" A shrill scream pierced the air as the doors to the compartment flew open. Everyone sitting inside looked up, and what they saw was an awe-inspiring sight. Lily was standing in the doorway, looking particularly murderous and breathing like a winded rhinoceros. The only thing that looked physically different about her was that her hair was now green and silver.

     "What happened to you?" Ellie asked bluntly.

     "Potter. He pulled that stupid Slytherin hair trick on me AGAIN, and he put a charm on my voice so that I spoke only Pig Latin whenever anyone in the prefect meeting spoke to me."

     "How'd you make him undo it?"

     "He couldn't."

     "Why?"

     "You could ask him, but he won't be able to answer, seeing as he's now an albatross."

     "A WHAT?"

     "Albatross."

     Ellie winced. She had a hard time imagining James as an albatross.

     "Why an albatross?" Sirius asked.

     "Maybe because he won't be proud of being an albatross later, and maybe because albatrosses live in Antarctica, far away from here!"

     "True, true," said Sirius.

     "What's an albatross?" Peter asked. No one paid any attention to this question.

     "Where did you put him, Lily?" Ellie asked.

     "Nowhere, I just left him there."

     "He's hiding out in a compartment up front. I think it's really scaring the third years," Remus, who had now arrived at the compartment, informed them.

     "We'd better go find him before he does any serious damage," Ellie suggested. She led the way out of the compartment; Remus, Sirius, and Rae following her. A few moments later, Lily stormed out after them, leaving Peter alone in the compartment.

     "Hey!" he said. "Nobody ever told me what an albatross was!" 

*******

That's it for this chapter! 

Next chapter will be at Remus' house. Who knows what kind of chaos could ensue!

PLEASE REVIEW!


	2. The Gnome Toss

Disclaimer:: I still don't own Harry Potter, and I don't own Gone With the Wind. The only person I really own is Rae. So don't sue me.

In Chapter 1's reviews, I was asked to explain what an albatross was, so... An albatross is a big, really awkward looking bird. It lives in Antarctica. That's basically all I know about it that would really matter.

I know that at the end of the last chapter, I said this one would be at Remus' house. Well, I changed my mind, and now it's at Rae's house. It just fits the story better.

Thanks to my wonderful reviewers of Chapter 1:: **Monkeygrl**, **GlitzyDancingShoes**, **James-Padfoot**, **PeRkieGuRL**, **aSullenRiot**, **BURN THE R.U.M**, and **rose**! Hugs and keep reading!

OK, I posted this chapter before, but there were a few BIG mistakes in it. I've fixed them now, so its all error free! *shouts of joy*

Now I'm done talking. Here comes Chapter 2!

****

"Rae!!!!" Lily leapt out of the car her parents were driving, and fairly tackled Rae. When she had let go, she walked back to the car, grabbed her suitcase and waved to her parents and her little brothers. Her older sister Petunia had refused to come with them to drop Lily off. In fact, Lily hadn't seen her in days. Not that it mattered much, but it was obvious Petunia was avoiding her more than usual.

"Have a good time, Lily Bean! We'll be back to pick you up in two weeks!" Lily's mother waved out the window as the car pulled out.

"Bye mum!" Lily yelled. She and Rae picked up the suitcases and began to carry them towards the front door. As they went up the walk, three boys came running out the front door. Remus, Sirius, and James were all holding brooms and talking about Quidditch.

"The Tornadoes will _never_ make it if they don't — hi Rae, Lily — get rid of Degan Sommers. He does them more harm than good..." Remus was saying as he walked past. Rae did not look at all surprised that all three of them had just walked out of her house like they owned it. Lily, however, was not used to this and gave Rae a questioning look.

"Oh, they're over here all the time. If they're visiting Remus, they're visiting me."

"Where does Remus live anyway?"

Rae pointed to the house across the street.

"That makes it pretty easy for him to come over. Come on, I'll show you where you'll stay." She and Lily walked into the hall of Rae's house. Lily looked up and gasped. From the outside, Rae's house looked like a normal family home, but on the inside it was anything but that. The house had first appeared to have two stories, but now Lily could see at least five. There were several sparkling crystal chandeliers, and the floor in the entry way was white marble.

"Wow," Lily whispered. "It doesn't look like this from the outside."

"My dad does a good job of disguising it," Rae said smiling. "Your room's on the third floor. I'll show you."

The girls walked up the staircase. The third floor looked like a long way up, but they got there remarkably quickly. Rae pushed open the doors to a guest room, and ushered Lily in. The room was quite comfortably decorated. The bed was made of wood that looked antique, and there was a blue down comforter on it. There was a wardrobe in one corner and a large, comfortable looking chair in the other. A large bay window graced the front wall, and the floors were covered with soft white carpet. The bathroom off to the back of the room had a roomy shower, a chrome sink, and shining white tiles. Somehow, though, it was not as lavish as the entry hall. Lily wondered why this room would clash so much with the decorations of the hall. This must have shown on her face, because Rae said,

"I know it's a bit different from the entry way. All the furniture and stuff has been around since my great-grandpa's time. He got rich selling Demiguise pelts, and he built the beginnings of the house. That was good, except he ran out of money before he could finish the house. See, the Ministry of Magic banned the pelts to help save the Demiguise, so my great-grandfather's business was lost. That's why the rooms are small and not as expensive looking as the halls." (A/N: The Demiguise will be explained at the end of the chapter.)

"I rather like it this way," said Lily. "It makes it a home."

"Thanks," Rae answered, and they began to unpack Lily's clothes.

About an hour later, they heard a voice from downstairs calling them.

"Rae, Lily, dinner's on the table!"

"Coming mum!" yelled Rae, and the two girls began to head downstairs.

 They were passing through the hall on the second floor when they met James, Sirius, and Remus coming from a different direction. Rae said they were probably coming from the back yard. The entrance was on the second floor because the house was on a hill. They looked at the two girls, and James put his arm around Lily's shoulders. 

"I don't believe I've given you a proper welcome, have I?" he said in a mock thoughtful tone.

"Not that I care," she said, trying to shake him off.

"Hit me with insults if you want, but I know that deep down, you can't resist me!" he said and tilted his head to one side. Lily was about to say something when they heard the front door click shut. James glanced down, and Lily took advantage of this momentary lapse in concentration. She stepped on James's foot, causing him to let go of her.

"Ow! What was that for?" he asked, although it was kind of a rhetorical question, considering that fact that they both knew the answer. Sirius just looked at them, not even bothering to say anything. Before the scene became more violent, Remus said,

"Lets go downstairs and get some dinner." 

Lily gave James one last glare and followed Remus down the stairs. As soon as she arrived in the kitchen, a blur of short, curly brown hair was upon Lily, giving her a hug.

"Lily! How nice to see you again! It's been too long."

"Hi Mrs. Simmons. It's nice to see you too." Lily had met Rae's mother before, because she worked at Flourish and Blotts, which was one of Lily's favorite stores. Rae and Lily would visit her sometimes in the summers, but this was the first time Lily had ever been to Rae's house.

"I've got dinner on the table for everyone!" Mrs. Simmons said and led everyone into the dining room. Mr. Simmons was already there. He had been the one coming in the door when everyone had been on the stairs. They all sat down at the table and began to eat Mrs. Simmons's amazing feast.

When dinner was finished, Mrs. Simmons began magicking dishes into the sink. Lily watched her for a moment, and then, having been taught the rules of a good guest, said,

"Anything I can do to help, Mrs. Simmons?"

At this James could not resist mumbling,

"coughSuckupcough"

Lily stepped on his foot again. He acquired a pained expression but didn't say anything else. However, Mrs. Simmons had seen the little argument, and thought about Rae's descriptions of their frequent disagreements. _They sound just like Matthew and I when we were their age, and we ended up getting married. They could be great friends if they would just stop and see how the other feels..._

"You know, the gardens do need de-gnoming. I must say they're getting quite out of hand. Rae, why don't you and Remus take the front garden since you know it so well? Sirius can come with you. Lily and James, why don't you two take care of the back gardens?"

James grinned at Lily; she glared back and pushed open the back door. This had not been a good idea for Mrs. Simmons to ask the two of them to work _together_. Plus, Lily didn't know how to de-gnome, but she was not about to tell James that.

Meanwhile, James was silently thanking Mrs. Simmons for making Lily work with him. Suddenly, she stopped walking, and he almost bumped into her. When she didn't start up again, he walked around her and knelt down in front of one of the bushes. He looked up at her to see if she would do the same. She just looked at him, as if observing the procedure. At that moment, an idea occurred to James. He got to his feet and said,

"You've got no clue how to de-gnome, have you?"

Lily had not expected him to notice this, but she tried to act unembarrassed. 

"No, which is likely to be the reason I'm standing here instead of doing something productive."

"I'll show you," he said. "Just stick your hands into the bush like this." He reached underneath the lowest branches. "If you grab 'em by the feet, it surprises them and they don't try to bite you as much." He demonstrated by pulling a wriggling gnome out of the bush. "Then, you stand up, and swing it around your head, and when you've got a good rhythm going, you just let go of it, and hope it doesn't hit anything on the way." He swung the gnome over his head, let go, and it flew over the hedge in the distance. He noticed the appalled look on Lily's face and said, "Don't worry about hurting them, they'll recover and be back in a few days."

Lily was still not sure about the whole thing, but she knelt down next to a bush anyway, stuck her hands underneath, and pulled out a gnome. James watched her as she did this. She stood up and began to swing the gnome over her head, but it was harder than it looked.

"Here, try putting one hand over the other, like this," James said. He gently placed his hands on hers and moved them into the right position. He was surprised that she let him do this. Usually she never would have accepted help from him, or let him touch her for that matter.

Lily was equally surprised at herself, but she let him help her. He actually wasn't being a jerk for once, and she wanted it to stay that way.

"There, now try again," James said. Lily swung the gnome over her head, and this time she let go. The gnome flew over the hedge, almost further than James's.

"Bloody hell, that was good! Where'd you learn to throw like that?" he asked.

"Being a Chaser comes in handy sometimes," she replied.

They spent the next hour or so having a contest to see who could throw the gnomes the furthest. Lily had caught on quite quickly, and was fair competition. When the garden was almost completely de-gnomed, she said,

"Looks like we've pretty well finished it. Just a few more and we'll be done! I'm getting pretty good at this de-gnoming stuff."

"I think it's obvious you learned from the best," James said and ruffled his hair. Lily did not hear the kidding tone in his voice. She gave him the usual glare and stepped on his foot. Hard. Then she walked off back into the kitchen, leaving James to finish off the rest of the gnomes. James massaged his foot.

"The same foot three times today," he mumbled. "Maybe I _am_ a prick..."

* * *

Lily stormed up the stairs into the guest bedroom. Obviously, Rae, Sirius and Remus had already finished out front, because Rae was sitting in the chair in Lily's room, reading Gone With The Wind. (A/N: I'll explain this at the end of the chapter.) This was of course her favorite book, and it's appeal had just picked up even more after she had watched the movie version with Lily. She had been fascinated, because being from a pureblood family, she had never seen a movie before. However, the story line was just too ironic for what had just happened. Rae looked up as Lily stomped in.

"What happened to you," she asked.

Lily did not even stop to ask what Rae was doing in her room. 

"Potter," she answered.

"Oh. What did he do to you?"

"He was being a prick, just like usual. I can't believe I thought he'd changed! He was being so... so... _normal_ when he was teaching me how to de-gnome, but then he started showing off at having taught me so well! He just can't stop thinking about himself, and it makes me so mad!"

With that, she stormed off into the bathroom to take a shower.

"He's trying to impress her but he just doesn't know how," Rae said to herself. "Someone's going to have to teach him..." she laughed softly and went back to reading her book.

****

Ok, I chose Gone With The Wind for Rae to read because she's being modeled after one of my friends, whose favorite book is Gone With The Wind. I've never read the book, but she made me watch the movie with her, so I know the storyline. For those of you who are not familiar with it, the main characters are Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. Rhett is in love with Scarlett, but she's in love with someone else. Even so, Scarlett and Rhett get married, but she still doesn't love him, and he ends up leaving her. There's a bunch of stuff in between (the movie is three and a half hours long) but that's the basics of it. I thought it was really good irony for the Lily/James situation.

Demiguise – This animal is explained in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but for those of you who have never read it, I'll explain. A Demiguise pelt can be used to make invisibility cloaks, so they are highly valued. 

Next chapter will be pre Thien's wedding (remember him from the last chapter?), and maybe wedding day.


	3. Pranks, Weddings, and Disasters

Disclaimer :: I still don't own any of Harry Potter, nor do I own the Swiss Alps, or even the hotel described in the Swiss Alps.

Ahhhhhh! All my ideas are being taken! The idea of relating Gone With The Wind to Lily and James was taken, and the pulling out of people's hair was also taken. Problem is, I didn't know this until after I wrote the chapters! All my ideas are my own, I promise **promise** **_promise_**! Just so you know.

Sorry about any confusion I might cause with all my characters. I know I've got a lot of OCs, and if you want any extra background info, **REVIEW** and I'll help. (Hint Hint)

Reviewers:: 

**PeRkieGuRL **and** BURN THE R.U.M** – I'm glad you guys stuck around for the second chapter! Thanks as always for reviewing!

**GlitzyDancingShoes **– Sorry about that confusion with the name Dan in there. See, my other fic, Only For The Future, was set in the future, about Harry's son, Dan. I reread the story tho, and it sounded too much like Lily and James, so I just changed the names and some info around to make a new fic. I might have missed some names in there, so if it doesn't make sense, that's why. Thanks for letting me know about the screw up, and I reposted Chapter 2 so that it's right.

Hey! I fixed the Romulus and Remus mistake. It was another product of my bad editing of my previous story. Thanks so much to **BURN THE R.U.M** for pointing it out.

I know that wizards would probably get to where they're going by portkey, but this is MY story, so in this chapter they're using some Muggle transportation.

Ok, why do I always go on and on before each chapter? We may never know. Anyways, here's Chapter 3!

******

The rest of the week passed without incident. Lily was avoiding James whenever she could, and succeeding surprisingly well. When James, Remus and Sirius would go up to the field behind Rae's house to play some Quidditch, Lily and Rae would stay in the house and read. When Remus was forcing James and Sirius to cram in some last minute homework before they had to leave for the wedding, Lily and Rae would go outside and Lily would give Rae Quidditch lessons. It was a kind of cycle.

     A week before the wedding, Lily, James, Remus, Rae, Sirius, and Remus's twin brother Romulus (Thien had not been home all week), piled into a little car Mr. Lupin had rented from the Ministry, and drove to London-Gatwick airport. They then flew from there to the Zurich airport in Switzerland. The wedding would be held in the Swiss Alps, so they had to rent a car and have someone drive them the rest of the way there.

     As they drew closer to their destination, the scenery became a more prominent feature of the drive to the hotel. They could not stop looking at the Swiss Alps. The beautiful mountain ranges rose high above the road; huge, majestic figures shrouded in mist enfolding the passengers of the car. The girls snapped pictures every few seconds, in awe of the enormous spectacle.

     Their hotel looked out on the Alps, and each room had an amazing view from the balconies. The rooms were lodge-style, and quite comfortable.

     "Wow, this is absolutely amazing!" Lily said, smiling, as she put her bags down and stepped out onto the balcony. Rae followed, with the same awestruck look on her face. This had to be the most amazing place either of them had ever been.

     Everyone got settled in their rooms and then made their way back up to the lobby. The lobby was actually on the top floor, because the hotel sat on the side of a hill. As they emerged from the elevators, they saw the familiar figure of Ellie waiting for them. Everyone exchanged hellos, and then began on the subject of their surroundings.

     "This place is crazy!" Sirius was saying as Rae led the way back to the rooms. "You know, you can climb out the windows, down the fire staircase, and run around to other people's rooms from the outside!"

* * *

The next morning, Lily, Ellie and Rae were still asleep at 7:00 AM, and they did not plan on getting up for a few more hours. However, certain other hotel guests had other ideas. James and Sirius tiptoed into the room at 7:00 with water pistols behind their backs, and turned on the clock radio. The girls both rolled over and opened their eyes.

     "Come on, leave us alone," Lily said drowsily and pulled the blankets up further. Everything was silent for a moment, while the two boys took out and aimed the water guns. Then, they took aim, and fired. Two streams of water went right into Lily's half open mouth, right on target.

The next step in the sequence of events went extremely fast. She screamed, spit out the water, and leapt out of bed, taking a pillow with her. She glanced between the two boys, and mentally chose one as her target. James instinctively turned and ran, with Lily close behind him. Up and down the halls they ran. By the third rotation, James began to tire from laughing, and Lily caught up to him and began hitting him with the feather pillow she was carrying. He retaliated with his water pistol. Finally, he tripped and fell, pulling Lily down with him. They sat there for a moment, feathers flying all around them. It was like a snowstorm inside a building, like the enchanted ceiling at Hogwarts. 

Sirius and Ellie poked their heads around the hotel room door to see who had won the fight. It was hard to tell, since they were both wet and covered in feathers.

"It's lucky the rest of this floor is empty!" Lily exclaimed when she noticed her now feather-covered appearance.

"That's definitely a sexy look on you," said Sirius, laughing.

Lily looked down at herself again, and then across at James. She couldn't help smiling.

* * *

A few days later, Peter arrived by portkey. He had not been able to stay at Remus's house because his aunt had died and he had been at her funeral. The wedding was only three days away, but no one was really mentioning it. They were too busy "discovering the wonders of Switzerland" as Sirius and James had so aptly named it (Remus had just rolled his eyes). Lily had gotten back at them for their little wakeup call by taking their broomsticks and replacing them with plain, un-magical look-alikes. The boys had been appalled that anyone would do such a thing, but the fight was now even.

* * *

     The next day, the little group left the hotel in the Alps for their next destination, the wedding site. The wedding was to be outside, near a few cottages, but that was the only civilization for miles. Dense forest and mountains surrounded it. The guests had to arrive at the cottages by gondola. Thien and Lena (the bride) had arranged for everyone to stay three nights in the mountain cottages. 

      The gondola ride up the mountain was quite crowded, since the guests and their luggage were all on board. Lily was sitting by the windows, taking pictures nonstop. Rae had insisted upon standing in the middle. The height of the ride was not agreeing with her.

     "Rae, come here so I can take a picture of you against the scenery!" Lily said and motioned her over.

     "I'm not moving, said Rae stubbornly, and she sat down on top of her suitcase. Lily was about to pull her over to the window, when the gondola docked. The doors opened and everyone lugged their luggage off the car. Lena, Thien, and Romulus were already waiting for them in the station. They led the group to their cottages, which weren't far away. The cottages were like condominiums. Three or four guests were staying in each. In cottage number 8 were Lily, Rae, and Ellie. In cottage number 9 were Remus, James, Peter, and Sirius. Everyone unpacked, and then had the afternoon before the rehearsal dinner to explore their mountain surroundings. They all decided to go to an overlook, from which you could see for miles into the valleys below the mountains. The view was spectacular and the girls brought their cameras. The group spent the afternoon there, just hanging out. As usual, Lily was avoiding James, and Sirius was being, well, Sirius. This time he was trying to convince Remus to roll down the side of the hill into the mountain valleys with him. Remus, however, said he would prefer to stay alive, and that was the end of that.

     The rehearsal went well, and the rehearsal dinner was at a nice restaurant in the main lodge. Everyone went back to their cottages at around 6:30 PM. The boys cabin played Monopoly with real wizard money (Sirius ended up with about five galleons in change) and the girls sat out on their porch and watched the sun sink low into the purple velvet sky. 

* * *

     The day of the wedding dawned clear and cool. However, no one was awake to witness it. The girls in cabin #8 did not wake up until 10:00 AM. They took turns taking showers and fixing each other's hair. Rae was the only bridesmaid out of the four girls in the cabin (since the Thien did not have any sisters, Lena had chosen Rae, who was the closest she could get). She was wearing a pale lavender, full-length dress of Lena's choosing, and had a wreath of flowers crowning her head. The other girls dressed in dresses they had brought with them, and put on their own flower wreaths which Lena had given all her guests to wear. By the time they reached the wedding site, the weather had changed dramatically. It was sort of windy and cloudy.

"Looks like a storm's coming," Rae remarked. Some early guests who were beginning to gather seemed to have noticed the change too. Rae led the way over to the boys, who were waiting by the chairs that had been set up.

     "Well, aren't we looking fine and flowery today?" said Sirius.

     "Sod off," said a grumpy Lily, who's wreath was particularly itchy. "It's not my fault that I have be a complete bee magnet all day."

     "I'll keep the bees away," Sirius said, and hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "They won't be able to get you up here."

     "You prick! Let me down this instant!" She began to kick her feet. Sirius responded by jumping up and down. 

"I mean it!" she yelled. Sirius jumped higher. The rest of the group was cracking up by now. Sirius took this as initiative, and began to run around the chairs.

"Would you stop it?" she asked, but she couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't like that kind of unappreciative comment while I am trying to save you from being eaten by killer bees!"

"Well, I feel like I'm bull riding, and I don't _appreciate_ that!"

     Everyone laughed as Sirius ran around in circles, until he collided with none other than Severus Snape. The laughter stopped abruptly, and Sirius inadvertently dropped Lily. She fell into a heap on the ground, the flower tiara now lying next to her. 

     "Cheating on King James are you?" Snape sneered coldly at Lily. She didn't even bother to tell him that she would NEVER date James. She just stood up and said, 

     "Too bad _you _don't have anyone to cheat on, Snape. I'd be surprised if anyone came within 50 feet of you. You stink so bad, I have to wonder how your parents stand that reek," she said coldly.

     "If it weren't for me, you'd-"

     "Hello ladies," James interjected as he stepped between them.

     "Need your precious Jamsey to play bodyguard for you? I had no idea you were so helpless that you needed someone else to fight your battles for you. Too bad you picked someone just as helpless." This was the wrong thing for Snape to say. He had dared insult Lily twice, and she didn't like that at all. This was the last straw for James too. Snape had insulted him as well and he now had a reason to get revenge. He strode forward, yelling,

"Snivellus, I'm gonna rip every last hair out of your stinking head!" By this time, he had wrestled him to the ground was and tearing at his greasy dark brown hair.

It took Remus, Rae, Lily and Ellie to pull James off (Sirius was egging him on). It looked as though the fight was over when Snape made no move to retaliate, but Sirius hadn't got his two cents in yet.

"Snape, if you ever bother us again, I'll make it so that you'll never be able to reproduce, and believe me, it'll hurt! "

Snape sneered at him, but walked off without further comment. When he was out of earshot, James opened up his fist and showed everyone the clump of dark hair in it.

"Yuck, put that down right now!" said Ellie. She looked completely grossed out.

"Who invited him anyway?" asked Sirius.

"Mum felt bad for him," said Remus.

"How does she even know him?"

"I was just talking about a prank we played on him once. She seemed to think it was horrible, so I told her we weren't the only ones who did stuff like that to him, and he was probably quite used to it by then. She made Thien invite him and didn't tell me until after the invitations were sent."

"Your mother is too soft."

"No kidding," said Remus as Sirius began reciting the "Sirius Black Idiotproof Method For Making Your Parents Agree With You". (If it was idiotproof for Sirius, it was idiotproof for anybody. Well, Peter might be an exception.)

Lily picked up her flower wreath and said, "I guess I'd better go fix this. I'll be right back." She ran inside the nearest cottage to the bathroom. She began to fix the tiara, when the shower curtain moved slightly. _What was that?_ she thought and slowly went towards the curtain. She pulled it back quickly, and screamed. Lena and Romulus were standing inside, in full wedding outfits. The shower curtain must have caught under Romulus's foot, because he fell out of the shower onto Lily and put his arm around her neck to steady himself. Lena had managed to grab hold of Romulus's other arm, so he didn't totally fall onto Lily. At this moment, James came into the room.

"I just came in to wash the Snivellus filth off my hands when I heard you... what are you doing?" He trailed off when he noticed the oddity of the spectacle before him. Lena in the shower, in her wedding dress, Romulus half in half out, with a look of surprise on his face, and Lily holding Romulus up, wearing an expression of confusion. James took a moment to digest what he was seeing and, after failing to make an explanation for it, asked,

"What's going on?"

"I'd like to know the same thing," said Lily, still slightly dazed. Romulus took his other leg out of the shower and Lena sighed.

"I suppose we'd better tell them then." Romulus nodded, and Lena began.

"I wish I weren't marrying Thien. I'm not in love with him."

James's jaw dropped about six inches. When he did not shut it, Lily reached up and shut it for him. Then she looked quizzically from Lena to Romulus.

"No no, I'm not in love with him either. See, I was in the year younger than Thien when we were in school. I knew Romulus because we were Ravenclaw prefects together. I was already good friends with him when Thien asked me out. I figured, why not? He seemed like a nice enough guy, and I didn't worry about it lasting more than a few months. The trouble was, it did. Even after he left school, he wrote to me every day. I just didn't have the heart to dump him, because I knew he really liked me. I just wrote back less and less, and hoped he'd forget about me or meet some other girl. But then he dropped the bomb. We wrote to me asking me to marry him. I don't know what I was thinking, but I just scribbled down a 'Yes,' and sent it back. I was really in trouble then. Since Romulus and I are friends, and Romulus and Thien are brothers, Romulus agreed to try and help me out of this mess. We hid in here because we thought this would be the one place no one would look for us."

"Well that plan's ruined," Romulus said ruefully.

"What are we going to do now?" Lena asked.

"Lena? Where are you?" came a voice.

"Well, you'd better get out of here," said Lily. "Someone's looking for you."

"Here, you can go out the window," said James hurriedly and opened the small window. For only the second time in their lives, Lily and James cooperated to help Lena and Romulus out of the window, just as Thien came around the corner.

"Quick, pretend you're fixing your hair or something," Lily whispered. James gave her a look. His hair pretty much fixed itself. He had the famous "Potter hair," and there was nothing much he could do with it to make it look different. However, desperate times called for desperate measures. Thien walked into the bathroom as Lily re-hairpinned her tiara and James made a frantic effort to smooth down his hair.

"Have either of you seen Lena?"

"No!" they both answered, a bit too quickly.

"I mean, I haven't seen her since we first got here," Lily recovered.

"Well, we'd better find her, because it's time for us to get married!" Thien said, and got a dreamy sort of expression on his face. Lily and James tried their best to suppress their laughter, and followed him out of the room.

* * *

Just as Lena was beginning to walk down the aisle, the wind picked up even more. It was now gusting more frequently, and the sky was looking darker. Still, the ceremony went on. An air of apprehension hung over both Lily and James, as if they were expecting some bomb to go off at any moment. They held their breaths when it came time for the vows. The priest was saying,

"Do you, Thien Lupin, take Lena Longden to be your lawful wedded wife?"

"I do," said Thien happily.

"And do you, Lena Longden, take Thien Lupin to be your lawful wedded husband?"

What Lena was going to say, however, was never known, because at that moment, lightning struck, and she crumpled, limp, to the ground. Everyone screamed and ran towards the lodge or the nearest cottage. That is, everyone except James, Sirius and Lily.

"That was no ordinary lightning, it was magic, which means it had a purpose," James said hurriedly.

"Well, there's your purpose." Sirius pointed to a hooded figure rushing toward Lena.

"C'mon," Lily said, and began to run forwards, in the direction of Lena and the hooded figure. The boys followed, and when the figure saw them coming, it jumped up, trying to take Lena with it. As it did, its sleeve came up and they could see the Dark Mark on its arm, symbolizing that it was a follower of Voldemort.

"Put her down!" shouted James and ran at it. Leaving Lena on the ground, it immediately began running the other way. James continued to run after it as it headed into the forest beyond. Lily and Sirius followed. The branches of the trees ripped and tore at their clothes as they ran. They finally caught up with the hooded figure when it tripped over a tree root.

"Well," said James, out of breath, "seems you've failed your mission this time. Voldemort won't be too happy, now will he? What did you want with Lena Longden anyway?"

"That is not for you to know," came a man's voice from inside the hood. It was vaguely familiar to James, but he could not place where he knew it from. "Now, if I cannot have the girl, the least I can do is bring _Lord_ Voldemort these three spies."

He drew his wand and raised it over his head... 

****

Wow, cliffhanger! Look out for the next chapter soon, and please::

**_REVIEW REVIEW!_**


	4. Death Eater In Darkness

Disclaimer :: Still don't own anything you recognize from Harry Potter, or from anywhere else for that matter.

-More Mistakes Fixed!-

**BURN THE R.U.M** – Thank you so much for pointing out that mistake I made in saying Romulus was older than Remus. It was another thing with my bad editing. In my other story, the character who turned into Remus had an older brother. I was going through and changing the names and I totally forgot to change that. I'm glad you pointed out the mistake. It was one of my bigger and more embarrassing ones. One day I'm gonna get this whole editing thing right!

REVIEWERS::

**PeRkieGuRL** – Yes, I've read about half of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! Good book! Thanks so much for reviewing!

**Phire Phoenix Clan** – Hehe, I'm evil! Well, here's your next chapter!

Wow, not much babbling! Coolness. I'm gonna start the chapter before I start talking about something totally random, like Lars Fredrickson... (He's one of the members of my favorite band, Rancid. He's from Sweden. Read my profile for more info if you're unbelievably bored.)

****

"RUN!" shouted Sirius. No one needed to be told twice. All three sprinted forward; the Death Eater's spell narrowly missing James. For what seemed like an hour, they ran blindly, dodging spells. They could not try to protect themselves, for fear of hitting each other. As they ran, the storm broke, making it hard to see where they were going. They could only hope it also made it harder for the Death Eater to see where he was aiming.

"_Crucio_!" The Death Eater missed again.

"_Impedimenta_!" Another miss. _Damn_, thought James. He didn't know how long they could keep running before one of them was hit.

"_Imperio_!" Everyone was still on their feet.

"_Stupefy_!" There was a loud thud somewhere behind James that told him they'd lost a member of their party. Without even thinking, he turned around to see Lily lying, crumpled, on the ground. The Death Eater was advancing on her, stooping down...

"_Impedimenta_!" came Sirius's voice. In slow motion, as if time had slowed down the Death Eater was blasted backwards. When he hit the ground, time sped up again. It didn't take long for him to recover, and soon he was back on his feet. James had his wand out now (luckily he carried it with him even in the summer), holding the Death Eater off while Sirius sprinted forward, scooped Lily up into his arms, and ran. James stood for a moment, as if frozen. He did not want to start a duel; it was too risky in the rain. He was already soaking wet and could hardly see. On the other hand, he didn't want to run, leaving himself vulnerable.

"_Expelliarmus_!" yelled the Death Eater. In that moment, James made his decision. He dodged the spell and ran, zigzagging between the trees, making himself harder to aim at. After what seemed like forever, they came into a clearing. The overlook was just ahead. Sirius was gently putting Lily onto a bench when James came storming through the trees, closely pursued by the Death Eater.

"Ha, I've got you cornered now, boy!" The Death Eater advanced on James, who was now at the overlook railing. "You can't run anymore." James took a few discrete steps to the side. For every step the Death Eater took, James took two to the side. As he watched, Sirius realized what James was doing. The Death Eater thought he had James now, and was not paying attention to what was happening. He continued to advance, and James continued to step away, until they had made a complete circle. Now it was the Death Eater with his back up against the railing. He raised his wand,

"Stu—" He never finished his spell, because at that moment, Sirius lunged at him, pushing him right over the edge of the railing. He rolled a few feet and out of sight. The two boys peered over the edge of the railing.

"Do you think he's dead?" Sirius asked.

"No, but we're at quite an altitude. No one can endure a fall like that without sustaining some injuries." James answered solemnly. Sirius grinned at him.

"You sound just like McGonagall," he said. James grinned back, and turned to Lily. She had not yet regained conciousness.

"We've got to get her back to the cabins. She'll probably need medical attention." James said. Sirius nodded in agreement. James picked her up. As he looked at her, he tried not to think whether or not she would step on his foot again when she heard he had carried her. He tried to concentrate on how good it felt to have her in his arms. She looked so peaceful and beautiful, even though her hair was soaked and she was unconscious. This was the way she was, really. Peaceful and beautiful. He'd never seen her angry at anyone, besides himself. If she had one ounce of meanness in her, she always saved it for him. Even though this was the case, she would always stay beautiful in his mind. Suddenly, he noticed Sirius looking at him. He shook his head and said,

"Come on, I think it's a pretty long way back."

* * *

     Twenty minutes later, James and Sirius trudged into the main lodge. They took Lily straight to the presiding medi-witch, whose quarters were in the back of the lodge. James put her on a bed, and the medi-witch, who said her name was Mademoiselle C'estine (A/N: I'm not good at French names) and whose French accent was quite thick, came over to take a look at her.

     "Ah," she said after a moment. "Stunning spell eh?"

     James and Sirius both nodded.

     "Ze 'as some cuts and bruises, but zey will 'eal. Now, she needs rest. She will be all right in a few days. What 'appened?"

     "In short, there was a Death Eater at the wedding, and she was attacked," James explained.

     "Ahhhhhhh," said Mademoiselle C'estine knowingly. "Second one tonight." The boys noticed a figure in the bed next to Lily's. They presumed this to be Lena, and hoped she would recover as well.

     When they were satisfied that Lily would be alright, they left the room. It was obvious that someone had seen them come into the lodge, because when they came out of the medi-ward, there was a crowd waiting for them, showering them with questions and demands for explanation.

     "What happened?"

     "Where'd the Death Eater go?"

     "Did anyone die?"

     They ignored all the questions being thrown at them. They were both extremely wet and tired, and did not particularly want to be bothered. They trudged back out into the rain, which had not yet let up, and returned to their cabin. They found that Peter, Rae, and Ellie were all there when they got back. They had been talking, but became quiet when they saw James and Sirius standing in the doorway. Ellie stood up.

     "There you are," she said in relief. "We sent Remus out to see if you were at the lodge. What happened? Where's Lily?"

     "In the medi-ward," said James as he flopped down into a chair. "She was stunned, but the medi-witch says she'll be ok."

     "Did you get rid of that Death Eater?" asked Ellie.

     "Temporarily."

     "It's a good thing neither of you were hurt," said Rae. "Lena's going to be ok, just out of commission for a day or two. What happened after we all went inside? We felt so bad that we didn't stay and help."

     James and Sirius had no choice but to relate their story to their friends. They all listened and watched attentively throughout. The story had just ended when Remus came in. He informed the group that there had been no further developments on the attacks, but for everyone to keep a lookout for anything suspicious. Soon after, the girls left for their cabin, and the boys started getting ready to go to sleep. Everyone but James, that is. He was still thinking about what had happened that night.

     "She could have died. Or worse," he said, almost to himself. Sirius overheard.

     "Hey, don't beat yourself up over it, she's going to be ok," he said.

     "Yeah, because you were quick enough to stop that Death Eater. I hate to think what he would have done to her if you hadn't been there," said James ruefully.

     "There's no way you can tell. What's done is done, and she's all right. That's all that really matters."

     James wasn't really in the mood to argue with Sirius at the moment. He didn't reply, just crossed the room to get his pajamas out of his suitcase.

* * *

        _Where am I? _thought Lily as she sat upright. _This is weird, I don't remember ever seeing this place before_, she sat up straighter, until a pain in her back stopped her short. _Ow! I definitely don't remember that! _She settled back down a bit and looked around her. It looked like she was in a smaller version of the hospital wing at Hogwarts. There were beds along the wall, and an office for the medi-witch or wizard. She wondered what had happened, why she was there. She looked around for someone she could ask, and she saw that the next bed over was also occupied. The curtains around it were drawn, but Lily wondered who occupied it. 

She heard voices from outside the door and in came a young women, dressed in a medi-witch's clothes.

"Yes, you may see 'er now, but only for a short time," she was saying, in a thick French accent. She was talking to someone behind her, and as they rounded the corner, Lily saw who it was. And he was not someone Lily wanted to see in her present state. It was James. He came over to her and pulled up a chair.

"Hey, how are you?" he asked.

"Fine."

"Listen, everybody else will be along in a bit," he said, sensing that she didn't want to be alone with him. "I just wanted to see if you were awake yet."

Somehow Lily didn't think this was the only reason he had come alone, but she didn't give him a chance for further explanation.

"What happened to me?" she asked. "I mean, I remember Lena being attacked and the Death Eater chasing us through the forest, but what happened then? Did I black out or something?"

"You were hit by a stunning spell. Sirius stopped the Death Eater from... doing whatever it was he was going to do to you and saved you."

"That's it? Sirius just got rid of him?"

"No, he chased us to the overlook, and when he tried to corner us, we pushed him over the edge. We're not sure what happened to him, but he hasn't been back, that's for sure."

"What happened to Lena?"

"She's alright. In fact, she's right over there, in the bed next to you."

"Oooohhh, _that's_ who that is. Good, I'm glad she's ok."

At that moment, the rest of the group came noisily into the medi-ward.

"Lily!" Rae squealed and hugged her.

"Hey everyone," Lily said as she hugged back. Everyone pulled up chairs or made themselves comfortable on the bed next to her.

"So, did you hear all about what happened last night?" asked Ellie.

"James and I were just talking about that."

"Ooooooh! You know he carried you..."

****

The plot's pickin' up! This chapter was a bit short and dramatic for me. Usually my writing is more funny and fluffy, but I'm trying to keep the story balanced. Keep a lookout for more updates. The next chapter will be the beginning of 7th year at Hogwarts!


	5. Ah, The Wonders Of Jello

Disclaimer:: JK Rowling has still refused to let me own Harry Potter, as hard as I try. And yes, the fact that I don't own Jello makes me sad. So, I guess I have to live with owning Rae, Ellie, and Nattie.

Oh yeah, and the song Brand New Day is owned by Forty Foot Echo.

Ahem. Time for the reviewer thanks.

**PeRkieGuRL**:: Yep, we know she does... *grins*. Thanks so much for reviewing for me again!

**shattered**:: Wow, thanks! Here's your update!

**Tribal Leader**:: I reviewed for you! Did you see, did you see, did you see? Wow, I think I had waaaay too much caffeine. Anyways, thanks for the review, and I'll look for the updates on your fic too!

**SavetheSqUiRrEls**:: Don't worry, the title will come into the story eventually... somewhere... I think... No, it'll definitely show up, so just keep reading!

**BURN THE R.U.M**:: Thanks for reviewing again! I love reviews!

See, these people are kind and they review for me. As I mentioned, I love reviews! review, Review, REVIEW, **REVIEW**, **_REVIEW,_** **_REVIEW_**! *takes deep breaths* Ok, the hyperness is subsiding...

This chapter's a little different. It has a song at the end. You can't really call it a song fic, I just used the song to... er... express changes in James. Wow, I sound like a psychiatrist and it's freaky... The song is Brand New Day by Forty Foot Echo. The verse lyrics don't really fit, but it was the chorus I wanted to put in. The song isn't really put in very well, but I had already written the chapter when I decided to add the song.

Anyways, this is craziness. Now I'll just stop typing and you can read the chapter.

****

"Wow, congratulations!" Rae squealed.

     "Thanks!"

     Lily was showing off her shiny new Head Girl badge to Ellie and Rae. It was September 1, and they were standing on platform 9 ¾, about to start their seventh and final year at Hogwarts. After the almost-wedding, the remainder of August had passed quickly. Lily and Lena had both fully recovered, and everything was pretty much back to normal. Lily had gone back to Rae's house, where her parents had picked her up. Shortly after that, she had gotten the letter informing her that she would be Head Girl. After that, the remaining week before school had been filled with getting ready for school. Lily wanted her last year to be the best, and now here they were, about to dive right into it.

     "I'll find us a compartment," said Rae.

     "Alright, we'll get the trunks," said Lily.

Meanwhile, James was trying to hide from his friends. The embarrassment was, of course, inevitable, but he was trying to delay it to think of something to say when his friends found him. At the moment, he was taking refuge behind a middle-aged man, who gave him more than ample room to hide. The man was telling his fourth-year daughter not to get into any trouble that year, and set a good example for the younger kids. James rolled his eyes and slipped away to find a hiding spot that didn't lecture so much. Of course, just as he was about to take shelter in the Hogwarts Express, Sirius caught up to him. He groaned inwardly.

     "James! Where ya' – what the HELL is that?" Sirius was pointing at James' chest. James rolled his eyes for the second time in two minutes, and muttered,

     "Mmmheaby."

     "Well it's great that you learned how to speak Greek, but could you use English for those of us who aren't as gifted?" Sirius said sarcastically and smiled. James sighed.

     "I'm – Head – Boy," he said, separating his words.

     "WHAT?" Sirius yelled as though a bomb had just gone off. Half the platform turned to look at them. 

     "Shhh! Not so loud! It's not like I wanted the job, Dumbledore just gave it to me. I tried to turn it down, I really did, but he seemed to think I was the only one who would be able to do it. I dunno _why_ he would think that, but it's not like I could ask," said James. Sirius was not showing any signs of having heard, he just continued to stare at James, dumbstruck. In the end, James had to drag him onto the train, to short protests and mutterings of "why?" 

     James found Remus and Peter already in a compartment. He shoved Sirius, who had not yet fully regained his senses, onto a seat. It was then that Remus and Peter noticed the Head Boy badge, and were about as surprised as Sirius. Eventually, James resigned himself to the fact that he actually had to sit in the Head's compartment, and slowly made his way down the hall to his destination.

     Lily was already in the Head's compartment. As she sat there, she wondered who the new Head Boy would be. _He had better not be a slacker_, she thought; she was _definitely_ not doing all the work this year. _Of course he won't be_, she corrected herself. _Dumbledore would only choose someone who he thought would be capable of the job. Still, I wonder who it is? _As if in answer to her unvoiced question, the door to the compartment slid open ... and there stood her worst nightmare.

     James stood in the doorway, staring at Lily. So _she_ was the new Head Girl.

     "I guess we'll be working together," James observed. Lily looked slightly sick. Even so, she managed to say,

     "I guess so..." she had a feeling that this would be a very long year.

* * *

     "Hi everyone who's been here before, and welcome to those of you that haven't," said Lily, eyeing a group of slightly apprehensive looking fifth year prefects, who seemed to be clumped together, as if using the safety-in-numbers strategy. It was Wednesday of their second week of school. Lily had called the first prefects meeting of the year, and everyone had gathered in the prefects commons.

     "Now, most of you know me already, but I'm Head Girl, Lily Evans, and this is the Head Boy, James Potter.  We'll get the boring stuff over with first..." Lily picked up some papers in front of her and began to go over the prefect's code of conduct. When she had said everything she had planned to say, James spoke up.

     "Ok, our meetings will be on the first Wednesday of each month. At the meetings, you'll sign up for hall patrol duty. We'll go over the schedule and make some changes, and you'll have the final ones for the month on Friday at breakfast." He picked up the sign up sheet and showed it to everyone. Lily got up from her armchair and stood behind the couch James was sitting on so that she could look over his shoulder. She was quite impressed that he had taken charge of the scheduling like that. _He might actually be good at this_, she thought. _Wait! What am I thinking? Of course he won't! This is Potter we're talking about; only the biggest slacker of a prefect ever..._

     "I'll hang up the sign up sheet on that bulletin board over there, and you can sign up after the meeting is over. If the slot you signed up for is absolutely the only time you can patrol that week, make sure you mark that on there. And we'll try our best to put you with your friends; that'll make patrolling more fun," James explained. He got up and tacked the sign up sheet onto the bulletin board.

     "I think that's all for now, and we'll give you this month's schedule on Friday," Lily reported and dismissed everyone. There was a mad rush towards the sign up list, in attempts for people to get spots with their friends. When the last prefect had left the room, Lily said,

     "I guess we'd better edit that schedule now." 

James nodded, took the schedule off of the wall, and began to read over it. Lily sat down next to him on the couch and began to advise him on changes to make.

     "Oh, no, Megan Relheim and Zechariah Crabbe should NOT patrol on the same night! He's hated her – Hey!" Lily gave a sudden shout. James jumped slightly.

     "What?"

     "We should plan a Halloween party! I know the tradition is to have a feast, but I know something better to do! Since I'm Muggle born, I have different Halloween traditions. In the Muggle world, kids dress up in costumes and walk around their neighborhoods. They ring their neighbor's doorbells and when the people come to the door, the kids say "Trick or Treat!" Then the people in the house give the kids candy. It's really for younger kids, but since most people here have never experienced it, I bet it would be fun! We could have the feast, and then stock each teacher with candy, and the kids can go to each classroom Trick or Treating. Then we can have little parties in each common room for afterwards, so that everyone can trade their candy." Lily was beaming. James could tell she already had her mind set on doing this, and he could do nothing but help her plan it. 

     "Ok, sounds like fun. So, we'll ask the teachers about this, and we'll need lots of candy right?"

* * *

     "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Push your teacher overboard and listen to 'er scream!"

     "Remind me again why we had to bring him along?" Lily whispered crossly.

     "He knows exactly how to get us what we want," James explained. It was October 25. The teachers had approved the Halloween party plan, and now Lily, James, and Sirius were going to get the candy that they needed. The teachers had offered to handle this, but James had insisted they would do it themselves. Now, all three of them were under James' invisibility cloak, which he had inherited from his father, and Sirius kept singing under his breath.

     "Deck the halls with kerosene, fa la la la la la la la la. Light a match and watch it gleam, fa la la la la la la la la. Watch your school burn down to ashes, Fa la la la la la la la la. Aren't you glad you played with matches? Fa la la la la la la la la!"

     Lily rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. Suddenly, James, who was leading, stopped, causing Lily to bump into him, and Sirius to bump into her.

     "Where are we?" she asked as she regarded the painting of a bowl of fruit in front of her.

     "You'll see," said James, as he began to do something to the pear in the picture.

     "Are you... tickling it?" Lily whispered. James nodded, and as he did, the pear turned into a door handle, which James pulled open.

     "Come on." He beckoned them into the high ceilinged room. Once all three were fully inside, they pulled off the invisibility cloak. Almost instantly, four house elves appeared before them.

     "Good evening Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, and the lovely lady they have brought with them. What may Nattie do for you today?" asked one of them with a deep bow. To Lily's enormous surprise, Sirius addressed him.

"Hello Nattie, we need some help. Those two," he motioned to Lily and James, "are planning a Halloween party, and we need some supplies." Apparently, the house elves knew exactly what "supplies" were, because within a few seconds, there were many house elves before them, each carrying a different bag of candy. Lily, James, and Sirius loaded the candy into a bag they had brought with them. 

When they were done, Sirius added, almost as an after thought, "Could we have some Jello?" The randomness of the request did not surprise Sirius' companions, nor did it seem to phase the house elves, who brought out several small plates of Jello, each in a different flavor. Sirius wasted no time in choosing the cherry flavored one. The house elves stood and watched him as he ate, apparently in case he wanted more. 

When he was finished, he asked, "Have you guys ever tried this stuff?" The house elves' eyes widened and they shook their heads, as though it would be a crime to do anything of the sort.

"Well try it then," urged Sirius. The house elves had no power over human order, so slowly and mechanically, they began to eat their Jello. Nattie was the first to be done.

"Wow, Mr. Black, sir, Nattie thinks that Jello is the best thing he ever tasted!" Some of the other house elves who had finished nodded in agreement. Sirius spoke in a secret agent voice.

"Base, this is Black reporting. Mission accomplished." (A/N: Oh man, the whole Jello thing is sooooo corny, especially that line! But I wanted Sirius to do something random having to do with Jello, and I couldn't think of anything else, so we'll just have to live with it.)

* * *

     "Thank goodness we didn't have to bring _him _this time," said Lily, referring to Sirius. She and James were under the invisibility cloak again, for the second time in two days. This time, however, they were headed in the opposite direction of the kitchens.

     "Stop stepping on me!"

     "Sorry, I can't! I'm trying to read the map!"

     "We'll, it's not going to help much since you're holding it upside down!"

     "Ohhhhhhh, I was wondering why the writing was backwards!"

     As James turned the map right side up in her hands, she wondered how James had been able to come up with ink that would update itself instantly. It was really amazing if you thought about it. Even though the Marauders had made it the previous year, it still continued to update itself. At the moment, she and James were using it to find the way to the statue of the one eyed witch without getting caught. James had talked Lily into going to Honeydukes in Hogsmeade with him to get more candy for the Halloween party.

     "All right, this is it," James informed her. "_Dissendium!_" James spoke the spell, and the statue's hump opened to admit them into the passageway within. One after the other, they slid into the passage and stood up. Lily, who had never been in the passage before, hit her head as she stood up.

     "Ouch! It's really dark in here..." She took out her wand and lit it. "There, that's a little better." At least now she could see where she was going. "Ok, come on, we have to make this quick so that we can get back before anyone notices we're gone." The security at Hogwarts was tight now, since Voldemort was making appearances at inopportune moments, which often resulted in the world's population declining by a few people.

     "They won't notice. I've done this about a million times and they never notice," James said dismissively. Lily raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything

After what seemed like a year, but in reality had only taken about twenty minutes, they reached a trapdoor that would lead them into the cellar of Honeydukes. They listened for a moment, to make sure no one was there. When they were sure the coast was clear, they took off the invisibility cloak and left it on the ground. Then, they pushed the trapdoor open and James climbed out first. There was no one in the cellar as far as he could tell, so he motioned for Lily to follow him. She did, and they climbed the stairs together. They reached the top and swung the door open quietly. As they slipped out, they could hear a woman behind the counter saying, "How many Fithing Withbees would you like to buy?" in a very nasally monotone. It was all the two could do to keep from laughing.

     "Would you like frieth with that?" James imitated the woman's voice. Lily burst out laughing. James grinned and began to grab a few types of candy off of the shelves. Some of them were good ideas, like the Sugar Quills, but some, like the Cockroach Clusters, Lily vetoed ("Who'd actually _eat_ those?"). There were not really many people their age in the store on this Saturday morning, since they were mostly all in school. There were lots of younger kids and a few adults in the shop however, so they weren't alone. They shopped around for about a half an hour, and then went up to pay for their selections. The same woman with the nasally voice and the lisp was there.

     "Ith thith your final order?" she asked flatly. Lily had to duck down to get out the money to keep herself from laughing. She quickly paid the woman, and she and James pretended to walk out the store exit. They waited until the saleswomen was busy with another customer, and then snuck back through the door to the cellar. Quietly, James opened the trapdoor and climbed down into the passage, carrying their bags of candy with him. Lily followed him, and they started back down the tunnel. It took them a slightly longer time to get back to Hogwarts than it had taken them to get to Honeydukes, considering they now had the bags of candy to carry. When they reached the other end of the tunnel, James gave Lily a hand up so that she could get out. As he did, a thought crossed his mind. For the first time since he had known her, he had made her laugh.

* * *

     "Trick or treat!"

     "Here's a Chocolate Frog for you, and a Sugar Quill for you!"

     The Halloween party was a great success. The students were loving it so much, they were even knocking on the doors of broom closets, asking for candy. In response to this, Lily had stationed all the prefects at various doors to bathrooms and closets. It was a good thing they'd bought a lot of candy, because it ended out that they needed almost all of it. Lily was standing at the door of a closet, which held various cleaning supplies, handing out the last of her candy to some second years who seemed to have gotten into the spirit quite easily.

     "Trick or treat!" James came striding up her station. She had had him walking around, just to make sure everything was going smoothly. Now that people were beginning to retreat to their common rooms to trade their candy with each other, there was not much for him to do. Lily handed him the basket that the candy had been in.

_Never thought I'd say I'm sorry_

_Never thought I'd be the one to bring you down_

_Now when I look out my window_

_But there doesn't seem to be anyone around_

"Hey!" he protested. Lily pulled a chair out of the closet and closed the door behind her. She sat down on it. James just stood next to her, and they watched the last of the die-hard trick-or-treaters round up what was left of the candy.

_And I, I think I'll change my ways_

_So all your words get noticed_

_Tomorrow's a brand new day_

_Tomorrow's a new day_

"Well, that was actually successful!" Lily said excitedly. "I think we should do it again next year."

"I guess you've earned your reputation as Head Girl," he said. She glanced at him. He was actually being serious for once, even though he had a smile on his face.

"You haven't done so bad yourself," she pointed out. As soon as she had, she thought, _did I just compliment James? On purpose?_

_We said we'd take a little time_

_For both of us to see_

_And wonder what it'd be like to carry on_

_Yeah, I know I got crazy_

_Well I guess that's just me_

_If I could turn back time before the wrong_

He grinned and said, "I'm glad you think so." He put the candy basket over her head like a hat and patted it affectionately before he walked away. Lily slowly removed the basket from her head, and watched him go. 

_And I, I think I'll change my ways_

_So all your words get noticed_

_Tomorrow's a brand new day_

Tomorrow's a new day 

She thought about what she had said, and wondered how he had managed to grow up so much in such a short amount of time...

_And I, I think I'll change my ways_

_So all your words get noticed_

_I think I'll change my ways_

_Think I'll change my ways_

_I think I'll change my ways_

_Never thought I'd say I'm sorry_

_Never thought I'd be the one___

****

Wow! It took me a really long time to update (I went on vacation, yay!), but I made up for it with a pretty long chapter by my standards. The ending is kind of in a bad place, but even so, I think it's my favorite chapter so far. Review and tell me what you think!


	6. Singing Hats and Slytherin Elves

Disclaimer :: Nope, still don't own Harry Potter. Too bad.

Reviewers::

**BURN THE R.U.M** – My ever faithful reviewer! Thank you soooooo much for reviewing me again!

**Ryan Barton** – Thanks for reading and reviewing! Here's your update.

**~*~rOk_stA~*~** - Hey, thanks! Gotta love Sirius's songs. I thought they were just so perfect!

**ChicaNoche401** – Wow, sure you can borrow the song! Thanks for reviewing, and here's the new chapter!

**PeRkieGuRL** – Glad you liked the chapter! I'm soooo glad you'll keep reviewing!

**aSullenRiot** – Sorry to hear about your computer, but glad to have another review from you! I'm a fluff lover too! Yes!

**fyresdestiny** – Love ya for reviewing! I'm glad you think the fic is realistic, and here's the next chapter.

**SavetheSqUiRrEls** – The basket part was my favorite part of the last chapter! My friends actually did that to me one Halloween so I decided I had to put it in. And hey, to answer your question about James being a prefect, I've decided to "bend" the rules. I did read OoTP, over the summer. When Sirius says that Lupin was a good boy so he got the badge, he implies that there was only one guy prefect in Gryffindor for their year. However, there's no written rule that there can only be two prefects per house per year (at least I don't think so). *grins evilly* Soooooo, I decided to make both Remus and James prefects.

And with that, here's Chapter 6!!!!! 

****

     James Potter and Lily Evans were fast becoming the celebrities of the school. They were being regarded as some of the best Heads Hogwarts had seen in quite a while. After the Halloween party, the students had been hyper for weeks, on what seemed an endless supply of candy. The prefects were having the time of their lives, patrolling the halls under almost no supervision. At first, it seemed quite uncharacteristic of Lily, who was a very disciplined person, to let the prefects have free reign. However, James had taken on the responsibility of assigning hall duty, leaving Lily to take over the rest of the Head's duties. James figured that this way, she wouldn't notice if he was corrupting the prefects. The plan had worked, and everyone seemed to be getting along quite well as a result.

But as much as James and Lily were liked, they still had some faithful opposition. The Slytherins were not happy with all the hero worship the two were getting. After two weeks straight of waking up with the words "Gryffidors suck" written in green ink on the curtains of her bed (which was obviously, and sadly, as creative as the Slytherins got), Lily got fed up. She put beetles into their oatmeal at breakfast. Ellie and Rae watched her do it with extreme surprise; Lily Evans never broke school rules. The Slytherins, especially the girls, were obviously surprised that they had moving insects in their breakfast, but Lily still woke up the next morning to "Gryffindors suck."

     November came and went quickly, ushering in a very cold December. Hogwarts was getting drafty and cold. Fires were constantly being maintained in every room, and people were doing their best to avoid being in the frigid hallways for too long. Everyone was wearing at least three layers of clothing, and the coming winter was expected to be one of the coldest in years. Despite the obvious signs of winter, however, it had yet to snow. No one was happy about this, especially the Marauders, who had been itching to start a snowball war ever since it had got cold enough to snow. As it was, everyone was stuck in their common rooms, and you could only play so many games of Exploding Snap before it got old. To make things even worse, the Slytherins had not yet let up their attacks on Lily and James. 

     "Ugh, it'll never come off!" Lily complained to Ellie as they sat in the Gryffindor common room. Lily was trying her best to get black ink spots out of her robes. A group of Slytherins had used a shattering charm to break her ink bottle, and the ink had ended up all over her. She scrubbed and scrubbed but she wasn't making much progress. She scowled at the blotches on her robes.

     "Did they get you, too?"

     Lily looked up and saw James walk in the portrait hole. He sat down on the couch next to her.

     "A few of them 'accidentally' spilled their pickled slugs on my homework in Potions," he said.

     "Gross," said Lily as she continued to scrub at her robes. She didn't quit scrubbing for another two hours. Ellie helped her for a while, but lost motivation quickly and went off to do her homework and go to bed. Eventually, everyone else decided to do the same.

"Finally some peace and quiet," Lily muttered as she looked down at the homework she had only just started. She tapped her quill on the table, trying to think what else to write about the various uses of Flobberworm Slime for her Care of Magical Creatures class. She could not fathom why anyone would choose to make people write about such a horribly boring subject. At that moment, she heard someone stand up. When she looked, she saw that it was James. She hadn't even realized he was still there.

     "Bored?" he asked, as if reading her mind.

     "Yes."

     "Still mad at the Slytherins?"

     "Yes."

     "Tired of just sitting there?"

     "Yes."

     James smiled slightly. Lily did not take this as a good sign.

     "If you answered 'yes' to all three questions, we recommend Potter's Cure. Comes complete with invisibility cloak." James pulled his invisibility cloak off the couch and held it up.

     "What do you want, Potter?" Lily asked suspiciously.

     "Well, I was just thinking that we could play a few harmless tricks on the Slytherins. As payback, you know," he said innocently. Lily rolled her eyes and looked back down at her essay.

     "Oh, come on Evans. What are you scared of?"

     Silence.

     "All right, you don't have to come, but now I guess I'll just have to tell McGonagall that you put beetles in the Slytherins' oatmeal…"

     Lily's head shot up.

     "How did you know about that?" She paused, and then continued. "Wait, I don't care how you know. Fine, I'll come with you."

     "Good," said James. " Now, here's the plan."

* * *

     "Are you sure we won't get caught?" Lily asked James apprehensively as they made their way down the halls.

     "You can never be sure of anything," James answered mysteriously. Lily rolled her eyes.

     "Well, there's a real confidence booster," she said. James laughed quietly.

     "Here we are," he said. "Serpentia." Suddenly, the bare brick wall before them revealed a door. James opened it quietly.

     "How'd you know their password?" Lily whispered.

     "Followed one of them here the other day. He didn't know I was there, of course," he answered as they climbed into the Slytherin common room. They looked around at the room for a minute. The walls were stone, and so was the floor. There were some assorted green carpets here and there, and a few big black leather sofas. A dark hallway went off each side of the room. Lily and James figured these must lead to the dormitories, since the left one was marked with a black serpent and the right with a silver serpent.

     "Lets go to the boys first, since I may not be able to get into the girls dorms," said James. Lily nodded. They decided black must be for the boys and silver for the girls, and set off down the left hallway. When they reached the doors at the end of the hall, James pulled them open a crack and peeked in.

     "All right, we're clear," he said. He and Lily tiptoed into the dorms and dropped the invisibility cloak on the floor. Then they went to work. Lily laughed as she saw the results of their "experiment" as they had decided to call it. She was surprised that she could have so much fun breaking the rules. She was still laughing when she and James tiptoed back out of the dorms.

     "Ok, it'll probably be better for you to finish off the girls dorms by yourself. Who knows what kind of alarm they might have in there…" James said. Lily smiled and nodded in agreement.

     Barely ten minutes later, she reappeared in the common room, laughing again. James grinned and draped the invisibility cloak over them again. They exited the Slytherin common room and made their way up the stairs to the main floors of Hogwarts. When they reached the top however, James took a left turn where he should have taken a right.

     "Uh, James? Aren't we going the wrong way?" Lily asked. James looked back at her and grinned.

     "Did you just call me James?" he asked as he kept walking.

     "Well, that's your name isn't it? Ohhhhh, I know where we are now!" She said as they reached the familiar painting of the bowl of fruit. "But why are we here?" she asked as James tickled the pear.

     "Pranking makes me hungry, and besides, it's much too early to go to sleep anyway."

     "Well, some of us would like to be able to stay awake tomorrow," Lily retorted.

     "Oh, come on Lil, tomorrow's Friday. You only have to survive through the day and then you can sleep till noon if you want to."

     "Since when are you calling me Lil?"

     "Since you called me James," he said and pulled her into the kitchens. Nattie and a few other house elves appeared almost immediately before them.

     "How may Nattie help Mr. Potter tonight?" asked the little house elf.

     "I'll have a hot chocolate and some chocolate chip cookies." James looked at Lily.

     "I suppose I'll have a hot chocolate too please," she said and the house elves disappeared. It wasn't long before they came back, handing both Lily and James their hot chocolate, and James the cookies. James thanked them and led the way over to the big window at the back of the room. Lily sat down on the wide window seat, with her back against the wall. James climbed up next to her. They sat there for a moment, not saying anything. Lily looked out the window.

     "Look, it's finally snowing," she said quietly and looked at James. As soon as she turned his way, he caught her chin with his hand, and tilted her face towards his. Lily knew exactly what was coming, but she didn't make any effort to shake him off. James kissed her softly, one hand still on her chin. She wouldn't have been able to pull away if she had tried. Her head was spinning, and the room, which had been cold a moment before, now felt warm and comforting. It was a few moments before gravity brought her back down to earth, and she pulled away slowly. The warm feeling lingered in her fingertips. She grinned and said,

     "I hope you don't think this means I'm your girlfriend now."

     James grinned back.

     "I didn't say you had to be."

     "For once!" Lily laughed. James rolled his eyes at her as he stood up.

     "Come on," he said and pulled her off the window seat and under the invisibility cloak. She followed him out of the kitchens and down the corridor. As they passed the entrance to the corridor housing the Slytherin common room, James laughed softly.

     "Can't wait to see Snivelley's face tomorrow! He'll never live this one down!"

     Lily just shook her head and smiled.

     They arrived at a very sleepy looking Fat Lady, gave the password, and climbed in the portrait hole. James claimed the invisibility cloak, and Lily gathered up her books.

     "See you at breakfast?" James asked.

     "Definitely," Lily replied and set off up the stairs to her dormitory.

* * *

     "Lily! Lily wake up, you're going to be late!" Ellie said loudly as she shook Lily awake. Lily opened her eyes and saw the sun streaming in the dormitory window.

     "Oh!" she exclaimed and leapt out of bed. She grabbed some robes from her trunk and practically sprinted to the showers.

     "Lily! You're not _that_ late!" Ellie shouted after her. Lily's head appeared around the door to the showers.

     "No time to talk! Gotta get to breakfast on time!" she said quickly and disappeared again. Ellie shook her head and smiled.

     Twenty minutes later, Lily came rushing into the Great Hall. She was wearing her Hogwarts robes but she hadn't had time to pin her Head Girl badge on or close the clasps on her shoes. Apparently she hadn't had time to fix her hair either. Usually, she would either pull it up into some elegant style, or French braid it, but today she had just dried it and let it hang to her mid back. With her emerald eyes flashing with excitement and her hair flying all around her, she looked very pretty. Lily sat down on the seat next to Ellie. Ellie could tell by the way Lily was smiling that she knew something Ellie didn't.

     "What are you—" Ellie began, but broke off at what she saw walking into the Great Hall. A small group of five or so people came in. They were huddled together, obviously hoping not to be noticed. As they came closer, everyone saw, and heard, why. Each was dressed in footie pajamas with patterns of little elves on them. They each had a slightly overlarge badge, on which was written, "I'm a Slytherin." On their heads, they wore Santa Claus hats with little bells on the ends. What the hats were doing, however, was the best part. The hats were singing. At the moment, they had a good chorus of "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" going. The whole great hall burst out laughing. The Slytherins looked to be trying to make themselves smaller and less noticeable, but the more they tried, the louder the song played. The group hurried to their table, the sounds of "O Christmas Tree" now emitting from them.

     Two more batches of Slytherins entered the hall before they all seemed to be accounted for. The second batch entered to a serenade of "Holly Jolly Christmas" and the third to "We Three Kings Of Orient Are." By this time, people were trying to figure out who had done this. The first guess of everyone was the Marauders, but Sirius, Remus, and Peter denied having anything to do with it. Sirius was especially perplexed by it. He kept saying,

     "Why didn't I think of that?"

The rest of the table continued to look for potential suspects. They knew James must have something to do with it, since he didn't deny it. But when someone asked, James said he didn't act alone. Ellie looked around at Rae, who looked as puzzled as Sirius, and at Lily, who was smiling. Widely. A bit too widely.

"Lily?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Did you do this?"

"What's it to you if I did?"

Ellie laughed aloud. Lily had broken the school rules. Again! Only this time, she had played a fully planned prank, with the help of... James? By then, the surrounding group had put two and two together and identified Lily as the other culprit.

"How'd you get them to wear those pajamas all day?" asked Sirius eagerly.

"We turned their clothes invisible and hid them. We put a charm on all the extra Slytherin robes too so that they would get way too small for anyone to wear them," Lily said importantly.

"How long are they going to have to wear the pajamas if they can't find their clothes?" Ellie asked.

"The invisibility spell will wear off after today, and the singing charm for the hats will only last a few hours, so we'll have to enjoy it while it lasts," said James. "Good thing is though, that when the invisibility spell ends, their clothes will start appearing in weird places."

"Well, under the Slytherin bathroom sinks is really that weird, but they won't remember putting them there," Lily added.

"Under the sinks isn't the only place they'll turn up," James said evilly. At this, Lily gave James a questioning look.

"Where else will they turn up, James?" she asked.

"Er, nowhere?

"Really."

"Well, I like to count the roof as nowhere," James said guiltily. Lily's eyes widened. James took this as a cue to get up. Lily got up too and chased him out of the hall. She yelled as she went, but not about that fact that James could have been expelled for going to the roof. Instead, she screamed something very unexpected.

"Potter! You went up to the roof WITHOUT ME?"

Everyone else followed them, laughing. No one concentrated much in class that day. Not only did they have the incident at breakfast on their minds, they had also noticed that it had not stopped snowing all day. Sirius was practically jumping up and down with joy. Once classes were over, everyone spent most of the evening in the Great Hall, watching the snow fall from the enchanted ceiling. When they finally went to bed, they were tired, but excited that there was now only one week left until the Christmas Holidays.

* * *

     Lily awoke late the next day. She sat up and immediately almost froze. She looked around and noticed that the rest of the girls in her dormitory had already left. She forced herself to get up and rush to the warm showers. She hurried in and out, and dressed in a light blue sweater and jeans. She began to brush her hair back and looked out the window as she did. The snow had stopped, and the sun now sparked on over three feet of fresh snow. Lily let out a small gasp, quickly used a drying charm on her hair and pulled it back. Then, she grabbed her cloak, gloves, hat, and boots, and ran down the dormitory steps. As she entered the common room, another figure ran in front of her, and she almost fell over. She slowed to a stop and saw that the figure was James.

     "Snow! Three feet! Come on!" James practically yelled, grabbed her arm and pulled out the portrait hole. When they reached the entrance hall, they met Sirius, Remus, Rae, and Ellie. No one knew where Peter was that morning, and to tell the truth, no one cared. They all headed out into the deep snow. After a few minutes, they realized that it was easier to crawl on the snow than try to walk through it. This would require some serious waterproof charms on their clothes. When they realized no one could perform a waterproof charm that would last long enough, they decided to use a packing charm on the snow instead. When this was done, Sirius began to dig a snow tunnel. No one could tell why, just that he was quite good at it. 

When he had dug one deep enough, he began to pack snow into a snowball, and threw it at James. James turned and threw another back at him. It missed, because Sirius had retreated into his tunnel. A few seconds later, another snowball came flying, but this time towards Remus. Remus pitched one down the tunnel at Sirius. Sirius responded with two snowballs, one for Remus and one for James. By this time, Lily, Ellie, and Rae had made snowballs, and threw them at the boys. This caused Sirius to declare war. Of course, Remus and James sided with Sirius when they heard this. They all climbed down into the tunnel and began to work on making some extra ammunition. The girls had no place to hide and no time to dig a tunnel, so they used a blasting charm to make themselves a kind of bunker. They had devised some tactics as to make it hard for the boys to see them and hit them. Soon this began to irritate the boys, and James got out his wand. He aimed at Lily and shot a stream of blue water out the end of it. It was apparent that he had hit his mark when Lily sat up in the bunker, shrieking. The water had frozen into tiny ice crystals as soon as it had hit her head, and she now had a nice splash of blue ice on her head, clashing with her red hair. James laughed when he saw her. Lily grabbed her wand and jumped up. James was quicker. He ran forward out of the tunnel and aimed a melting spell at the girl's bunker.

"ARRRRRGGGGHHHH! POTTER!" Lily yelled and began to run after him, shooting sparks out the end of her wand as she went. Some fourth years who had begun to build a snow fort near the war zone were now doing their best to protect it. James shot another melting spell at the bunker. This time it missed, accidentally melting part of the fourth year's snow fort. Lily shook her head and yelled,

"Some Head Boy you are!"

James looked back at her and laughed again. He ran a convoluted path around the war zone and all around the grounds. Lily tried to shoot more sparks at him, but he doubled back. As she tried to pivot and follow him, her foot caught on his and she toppled over backwards right into a snow bank, bringing James with her. They landed in the snow, James almost fully on top of Lily. They could still here the sounds of the snowball fight going on behind them. Lily spoke first, in a choked voice.

"Potter, you're squishing me."

James rolled to one side of her and propped himself up on his elbow. He grinned at her and asked,

"Why are you calling me Potter again?"

"I decided I liked it better." She smiled as she looked up at him. She was going to say something more, but then James kissed her for the second time in twelve hours.

"Well, I'm still calling you Lil whether you like it or not," he said when he had pulled away. Lily rolled her eyes and said,

"Fine."

"Hey, _Lil_, bet you your team has lost the snowball war by now," said James teasingly, putting extra emphasis on the word Lil.

"Bet not, _Potter_," Lily replied.

"Care to go and see?" he asked, taking her hand and pulling her up. "Oh, and by the way, blue is a good color for you," he added, referring to her hair.

"AAAARRRRRRGGGHH!" Lily shrieked and the chase began once again.

****

Whew! Chapter over! I know I got them together quite quickly, but I got tired of writing about them fighting.

Next chapter will be Christmas holidays!!!!! Yay!!!!!


End file.
